Jason Molina died earlier this year. He was 39 years old. He released albums under the names Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co and sometimes even as plain Jason Molina. These albums didn’t sell a whole heap but they meant a lot to a few, and this one – released here in a “10th anniversary deluxe edition” – is arguably his best.

Damon Albarn is a busy man. In between touring with Blur – and work ing on an upcoming solo album – last month he was in Mali recording Africa Express Presents: Maison Des Jeunes, the second album by the collective of African and Western musicians and producers. The album, download-able on 9 December, includes Lobi Traoré Band and Moussa Traoré alongside Brian Eno, Django Django's David Maclean, Ghostpoet and Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner. The same day, a launch show at Oval Space, east London, will feature Songhoy Blues and Kankou Kouyate's first ever UK performances, Ghostpoet and Maclean, and the premiere of the film of the 2012 train tour. The physical release will follow in early 2014.

Those who endured Williams’s recent X Factor performance need not fear: this brassy sequel to 2001’s big-band LP Swing When You’re Winning, is actually rather listenable. Not to say it’s great: he’s a karaoke kind of crooner and some of the covers here – such as “I Wanna Be Like You” with Olly Murs – should have remained the preserve of some celebrity charity ball.

Shepp’s latest release is a great 40th anniversary recreation of his famous 1972 live album Attica Blues, a black-consciousness riposte to the four-day riot at Attica prison – sparked by the death, in 1971, of the Black Panther George Jackson – which left 43 people dead.

Bobby Parker’s recordings from the late 1950s and 1960s influenced performers as varied as John Lennon, Carlos Santana and Led Zeppelin. The Washington-based bluesman cut a swaggering figure on stage with his preacher-like exhortations to “say yeah, children,” his shiny suits and his James Brown-style hairdo. His tenor voice caressed and screamed the blues over his powerful, stinging guitar, and he loved to walk through the crowd as he played.

Tourists are limp, leaderless and distinctly UnAustralian

Andrew Grice: Inside Westminster

Blairites be warned, this could be the moment Labour turns into Syriza

The mystery of Britain's worst naval disaster is finally solved - 271 years later

Exclusive: David Keys reveals the research that finally explains why HMS Victory went down with the loss of 1,100 lives

'I saw people so injured you couldn't tell if they were dead or alive'

Nagasaki survivors on why Japan must not abandon its post-war pacifism

The voter Obama tried hardest to keep onside

Outgoing The Daily Show host, Jon Stewart, became the voice of Democrats who felt the President had failed to deliver on his ‘Yes We Can’ slogan. Tim Walker charts the ups and downs of their 10-year relationship on screen